Tag: Christmas

Only 52 days until Christmas! Are you ready for the “Advent” season? Advent literally means the “coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important.” Advent on the Christian calendar is a four-week season of preparation and anticipation leading up to Christmas, on December 25. The focus of Advent is two-fold. On the one hand, we …

Day 1 The Coming Scripture Luke 2:8-14 Devotion Advent literally means “coming.” We celebrate Christmas because it was the (first) coming of Jesus. We celebrate advent in the anticipation of the second coming as well. Why celebrate Christmas? We celebrate because: Jesus came to bring Joy! Jesus came to bring Salvation! And Jesus came …

Scripture Reading Matthew 1:18-25 Devotion We don’t know a lot about Joseph. The Scripture is mostly silent about the step father of Jesus. If we look close, we will discover some great nuggets of gold about this unsung hero of the Christmas story. · Joseph was a righteous man. · He was sensitive to the …

Be Prepared Find copies of a songbook of Christmas Carols you wish to sing. As you do the devotions, practice singing the carols suggested at the end of the devotions. Don’t just sing the ones with which you are familiar, learn Carols the whole family may not know. Utilize the internet to learn tunes and …

Scripture Reading Luke 2:1 Devotion Caesar Augustus: Emperor who ruled the Roman Empire from 27 b. c. to a.d.14; also known as Octavian, he established the peaceful era known as the Pax Romana; Caesar was a title of Roman emperors. Who is in charge? Isn’t that often the question we ask? Jesus never met him, …

Scripture Reading Luke 1:43 Devotion Elizabeth recognized (by the Holy Spirit who fills her) that Mary’s baby is the Christ! It was (and is among Jewish women today) the desire of every Jewess to be the mother of the Messiah. Elizabeth knew that her pregnancy was of God, but she also discovered the glorious nature …

Scripture Reading Luke 1:18-20 Devotion Silence. That is the punishment Zechariah got for not believing God. We like to pick on people in the Bible when they do silly things. We look with hindsight at Zechariah and we think that he should have known better. He should have realized that an angel appearing to Him …

Scripture Reading John 1:6-8 Devotion The story of the birth of John the Baptist would really be a bigger story to tell if it were not for the fact that it is so closely interwoven with genuinely the greatest story of a birth ever. John would probably approve because He knew that he was to …

Scripture Reading Micah 5:2 Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; One will come from you to be ruler over Israel for Me. His origin is from antiquity, from eternity. Devotion The Messiah will come from Bethlehem. Bethlehem, the smallest, will bring forth the Savior. Isn’t it good to know that in God’s economy the very small can …

The Son of David Scripture Reading Jeremiah 23:5-6 “The days are coming” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “when I will raise up a Righteous Branch of David. He will reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. …